Sleeping Safely
Creating a Safe Sleep Environment for Your Baby
As you begin to prepare your nursery for your bundle of joy, there is one thing you probably are not thinking about… Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). There are many easy steps you can take to reduce the risk of SIDS. Creating a safe sleep environment for your baby will help everyone rest easy.
Steps to Reduce the Risk of SIDS
- Always place healthy babies on their backs for rest, sleep or when left alone. This is the only sleep position recommended for healthy babies. Babies placed on their stomach, who normally sleep on their backs, are at an increased risk for SIDS. Back to sleep every time – no exceptions.
- When infants can easily turn over from the back position to the stomach position, they should still be put down for sleep on their back, but allowed to adopt whatever sleep position they prefer.
- Place your baby in a safety-approved crib with a firm mattress. Make sure that the mattress fits securely in the bed’s frame with a tight fitting sheet. If the crib has sidebars, the bars should not be more than two and three-eights inches (2 3/8”) apart. Remember: only one infant per crib.
- Keep soft objects and loose bedding out of the crib. Pillows, bumper pads, quilts, comforters, stuffed toys and sheepskins should be kept out of your infant’s sleeping environment. Consider using clothing, such as a sleep sack, to avoid using blankets.
- Avoid positioning devices that restrict the movement of an infant.
- Bed sharing is NOT recommended during sleep. The safest place for your baby to sleep is in a separate but nearby sleeping location.
- Do not let your baby overheat during sleep. Keep the room at a temperature that is comfortable for a lightly clothed adult (68 to 72 degrees).
Pacifiers
Offer a clean, dry pacifier at nap time and bedtime. Do not reinsert the pacifier once your baby falls asleep and do not force your infant to take a pacifier. Remember to replace pacifiers regularly and do not coat them in anything sweet. For breastfed babies, delay introducing the pacifier until one-month of age to ensure that breastfeeding is firmly established.
Smoking During Pregnancy
Smoking during pregnancy increases your baby’s risk of SIDS. The longer a pregnant mother smokes and the more she smokes, the greater the risk.
Create a smoke free zone around your baby. Secondhand smoke is among the most common and harmful environmental exposures. Babies exposed to secondhand smoke may develop reduced lung capacity and are at higher risk for SIDS.
Where Not to Sleep
- Never place your baby on a couch/sofa, recliner, waterbed, pillow or soft mattress.
- Never place your baby in a room where smoking is permitted.
- Avoid any bed with another adult or child.
Supervised Tummy Time
Encourage tummy time when your baby is awake and supervised, this promotes upper body strength needed to roll over, crawl and sit. Tummy time can also help prevent “flat spots” on your baby’s head.
Avoid having your baby spend excessive time in car seat carriers or bouncers. Tummy time helps your baby learn to go from back to tummy, tummy to all fours, and then to sitting.
THE FACTs About SIDS
SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) is the sudden, unexpected death of an infant younger than one year that remains unexplained after a complete postmortem examination, including an autopsy, a review of case history and a death scene investigation.
- Most SIDS deaths occur when babies are between two and four months of age.
- SIDS is sudden and silent with most babies appearing to be healthy prior to death.
- SIDS is a recognized medical disorder listed in the International Classification of Diseases.
- Currently, SIDS cannot be predicted nor prevented by physicians.
- SIDS occurs quickly and quietly, usually during sleep, with no signs of suffering.
- SIDS is not anyone’s fault.
- SIDS is not caused by immunizations.
- SIDS is not the result of neglected illness, accidents or abuse.
- SIDS is not caused by suffocation.
- Vomiting or choking does not cause SIDS.
- SIDS is not apnea (breathing stops).
- SIDS is not contagious.
- SIDS is not the cause of every unexpected infant death.